Very funny (while informative) video produced by Toni DeBella, a blogger (Orvieto or Bust) who has relocated her life to Orvieto, Italy.

location of Orvieto, Italy

Rick Steves, a travel consultant, is based in my state and is well-known for helping Americans be smart and courteous European travelers. I had a bunch o’ Rick’s info packed for my Italy trip that didn’t happen.

There are apparently four videos in The Food Police series, but I did start with the Rick Steves episode at the link (below). It’s only 9 minutes long, well worth watching (loved Rome’s cobbled side streets). The other episodes are shown at the link, too. Only about 3-something minutes each.

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Our good friend and artist, Victoria over at Neo Watercolour, posted a study in orange. I love orange. The world needs more! Her post has inspired me to post. (Well, too bad I crashed back in mid-December when she actually posted, but it’s never too late to celebrate color!)

I had orange put in my hair recently. That picture was taken at the park where we stayed for Thanksgiving. I’m getting the orange renewed early next week and will probably feel as if I must show you all about it then! Maybe even without a hat covering most of it.

We stopped at a thrift store on the way there to do some nosing around. When we pulled in to park, some lazy-butt had left the trolley in a parking spot, so I jumped out into the cold rain to move it. Grabbed the handles to shove it away, looked down, and there was a sodden, folded twenty dollar bill. Good deeds! Can never tell if you might get paid for ’em! <:-D

In the shop, rooting through a pile of paper cast-offs, I became vaguely aware that a man had joined me on the other side of the same shelf. He leaned over a bit toward me, and while staring at my hair, was getting ready to speak.

My mode switched from idle perusing to Oh buddy, don’t even bother me now. You have no idea what I’ve been going through and if you start, I’m gonna scream.

Like this:

After much hilarity after having posted my art, dahling, I’ve decided we need to look at the painting from several angles.

As posted first:

Happy Pigs in Space–the artist photographed the painting, having ignored the original working angle.

I’ve been watching the original Muppet Show, so am getting echo reminders of Pi-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-gs in Spa-a-a-a-a-a-a-ace even if I haven’t seen any episodes yet. Jude so kindly named the painting for me/us after I kept calling it The Thing.

As further suggested by Jude on the Committee:

The Three Fishes

The Three Fishes (goin’ thataway!)

As intended by the artist, and continually referred to as the thing (not really bothering to give the words the honor of title case until spoken to by Pix on the Committee, who was worried about giving the painting a complex):

“Ciao, Professore!” is a charming, laugh-out-loud movie, by Lina Wertmüller, released in 1993. Next to the title in parentheses were these words: Io speriamo che me la cavo. Here’s the Netflix blurb:

In director Lina Wertmüller’s upbeat comedy, Marco Sperelli (Paolo Villaggio) — a priggish upper-class teacher from northern Italy — is mistakenly assigned to a tumbledown school in an impoverished village near Naples. But upon arriving, he finds most of his students hustling on the streets to earn money for their families — and before you can say “school of hard knocks,” Sperelli becomes the pupil as the kids tutor him about life’s realities.

I don’t speak Italian, so the English subtitles could be accurate that translated the very, very rude language of the 3rd graders. Somehow it worked, those little children hollering some terrible language. It probably worked because it was coming out of the mouths of little children. Laughed and laughed till I couldn’t breathe!

The parenthetical title in Netflix was in little tiny letters and got me curious. (Thank you Google.) The movie is based on the book, released in 1990, Io speriamo che me la cavo (I did not know there was a book!).

Apparently, the book is a collection of the real essays written by children going to school in Arzano near Naples. At that link there is a sample of the humor and is well worth reading. I remember this passage well in the film and it was hilarious! Still funny! Now I want to read the essays…. !! Better get studying!

The real reason I started this post was to quote a particular piece of wisdom in the movie. But I digressed. (gasp!) I’ll tell anyway:

Big Mister, swell Big Mister, has been giving me a boatload of his time. He works hard at his job 5 days a week, makes the drive to visit my mother one evening a week, does 98% of the cooking, fixes my shoulder when it goes bad, and just generally is a delightful companion.

Today, he was helping me to extend the shelving in the studio. My idea about construction is: I just want two shelves right there, only about 4 feet long, so it should be fast. No. No. No. Poor patient guy. He does manage to show me the error of my ways like so:

“Here, hold this.”

“Do you want to hold this up or go fetch?” (I chose “fetch,” but he made me be the holder-upper.)

“Help me tighten the clamps, then you won’t have to hold the wood while I use the saw because it makes you cry.”

I’m willing, so start to twist the screw thingie to get the clamp to meet the boards. I don’t even bother to think: lefty-lucy, righty-tighty because it’s never what I expect. I’m pretty sure the guys what put the threaded things together were actually standing upside down, and that’s why sometimes it’s left-tighty, righty-lucy, like the camper windows. Why why why?! So I’m helpin’ by tightening the screw thingie and he says:

“Wait! Stop! Oh, never mind. It’s OK; I’m just used to the other way.” (The other way meaning: he almost always has to correct the direction I’ve chosen.)

I barked with laughter. How could I not? How could I argue or feel offended?!

Shelving is coming along. !! Yaaaaaaaay!

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… you sometimes try to carry on civilized conversation? Maintaining, we used to call it in the other-drug-addled days. And sometimes you give away the besotted-show when happening on a single word? Here’s one that’s a killer for me when I’m sober!

Go ahead, you say it, but do keep to the intended number of syllables. If you can.

equanimity

PS. hahahhahahahaha

(PPS. I am posting with the tag and category Humor. How long has it been?! Lordy, will wonders never cease? Prolly not, cos that’s how it has been working for me. The wonders, that is. Working. Me. Grateful.)

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